I'm the CEO of TiqIQ.com, which is the leading ticket search engine online. I started my professional career as a writer covering New York technology in 1996. I've been fascinated by the ticket market from a young age and remember trying to understand what drove the market in front of Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden. After working in eCommerce for much of my career, I decided to start a company dedicated to tracking those prices with the benefit of technology and helping consumers get the best possible deals.

Which Teams Did The Best And Worst Job Of Pricing Tickets For The NHL Playoffs?

The Bruins have a long history of success with six Stanley Cups championships, most recently in 2010-11. Heading into the 2014 NHL Playoffs, the Boston Bruinsare favored by Las Vegas to win their seventh. While that’s good news for Bruins fans looking to root from home, it’s bad news for fans who want to see the game in person. As a result of their enviable position atop the NHL and holder of the President’s trophy, the Bruins have priced playoff tickets 140% higher than any other NHL team. The price of entry to TD Garden for the first round of the playoff is $155, which will get you a spot at the back of the promenade section or somewhere in the Balcony. That’s $93 more expensive the average of the cheapest faceprice across the other 15 teams in the playoffs. The most expensive ticket at TD Garden is going for $486. If you (conservatively) assume the Bruins are applying a $92 premium to all of their price categories, they’re generating $1.3 million in additional revenue…per game. With home ice advantage, if the Bruins were to play all 16 of their possible games at home, that would amount of $20 million of incremental revenue. In years past, that $20 million in value would have gone to brokers or other fans looking to resell their tickets. However, with the aid of historical data, and amidst the recent trend in professional sports toward ‘price optimization’, in 2014 the Bruins will be keeping it all for themselves. Have a look at our chart that shows the premium or discount for each team’s cheapest secondary ticket price as compared to their cheapest face price ticket

As a point of comparison, the next cheapest faceprice is for the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks, where $72 will get you into the United Center. According to data from TiqIQ, the cheapest ticket on the secondary market across the Bruins series is $132, which means that their cheap seats are 15.36% overpriced. With an average price of $309 on the secondary ticket market, it’s hard to call demand for Bruins tickets weak. In fact, the Bruins trail only the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks for the highest average price on the secondary market for their round-one match-up. Despite a marquee original-six match-up against the Red Wings, however, secondary-market prices say that the Bruins overshot the mark. If it’s any consolation for Bruins fans, however, the Bruins are not alone in overestimating demand for their first round playoff. There are currently five teams where the cheapest ticket on the secondary market is selling for below faceprice. The Bruins, in fact, haven’t done the worst job. That honor belongs to the Penguins who have the second-most expensive face price for their game at Consol Energy Center. At $80, their cheapest face price tickets are 25% more expensive than the cheapest ticket on the secondary market. With 111 points this year, the Blues finished in a tie for the third most points in the Western conference and they are currently favored to represent the Western Conference to compete for Lord Stanley’s Cup. While $80 isn’t a crazy number compared to the $62 average for the cheapest faceprice across the league, it’s about 25% more expensive than the get-in price on the secondary market during the season. During the regular season, the Penguins had an average price on the secondary market of $161 for their homegames, which made them one of the most expensive NHL tickets. With a lots of post-season success over the last two decades, Penguins fans realize that their series against the Blue Jackets is just the first step in the marathon otherwise known as the NHL playoffs. As such, they treating round one a lot like a regular season game.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Rangers, Avalanche and Blackhawks and appear to be leaving the most money on the table. The cheapest ticket on the secondary market for those teams have a premium to face price of 134%, 161% and 79% respectively. As defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Blackhawks likely could have raised prices further across all categories in the United Center seating chart. As for the team that did the best job of calling the market, it’s the Blues. The cheapest Blues tickets on the secondary market for the games Scottrade Center are 2.37% above face price. Oddsmakers have the Blues as the favorite in the Western Conference to hoist the Stanley Cup in June. If that happens, it will be their first and they’ll not only be the best team in hockey, but also they’ll also have had the most accurately priced tickets in the market.

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